Harley-Davidson is getting into the electric bicycle business

The news is out and it's now official that an American legend and a household Indian name have come together to forge a new partnership.

There have been rumours and speculations for quite some time that after its decision to stop manufacturing bikes in India, Harley-Davidson will be joining hands with a leading Indian bike maker, Hero MotoCorp to be precise.

SUBSCRIBE | FOLLOW TOI AUTO ON YOUTUBEThese actions are aligned with Harley-Davidson's business overhaul, The Rewire, and the company's announcement in September to change its business model in India. The eBicycle brand started as a project under Harley-Davidson's Product Development Centre with a small group of passionate motorcycle and bicycle enthusiasts.

This will be done through an exclusive network of Harley-Davidson dealers and Hero MotoCorp's existing dealership network in India.

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While Hero's statement has not specified if all the existing Harley-Davidson dealerships will continue to function, it clearly mentions that Hero Motorcorp will sell and service Harley-Davidson motorcycles in India.

The Milwaukee-based company has unveiled a new brand known as Serial 1 Cycle Co., taking the nickname of Harley-Davidson's first motorcycle. This was a result of a poor sales record which got further fuelled by the pandemic. The last quarter saw a year-on-year dip in retail sales of 27 per cent, the worst-ever in the past six years.

"With a complete reset of our regional structure, we now have a less cumbersome and much more efficient set-up and have defined a clearer regional strategy in North America, India, Asia Pacific and Latin America", Zeitz said. The plan, which Harley-Davidson chairman, president and CEO Jochen Zeitz first spoke about in the company's first-quarter earnings call back in April, followed the launch of the company's first production electric motorcycle the Livewire.